ABSTRACT
While this text has focused mostly on the general properties of complexity and complex living systems, we would be remiss in not examining the very important CNLSs that probably receive the most public attention today, i.e., economic systems(ESs). You will see that three reasons why ESs must be viewed as complex are (1) their models contain many nodes and directed edges, and have nonlinear, time-variable, and parametric gains; (2) they are noisy; and (3) human behavior is an integral component of their dynamics. Human behavior on the individual level, in small groups, and en masse is modulated by communications and information.Humans make the decisions to invest, buy, sell, adjust prices, raise and lower taxes, grow, manufacture, catch, plant, harvest, mine, reŸne, stockpile and hoard goods based on information from surveys, in the media, on the Internet, and from interpersonal contacts, all of which in¦uence individual, group-, or mass-behavior. The quantiŸcation of human attitudes and behavior on economic issues presents a daunting challenge to ES modelers.
